Nagasaki has gradually been branded by the Chinese, Chinese businessmen set up the first water company in Nagasaki, although the preparation of the gas company because of the emergence of the southern power generation stalled, but because the generators produced by Taihe Electric Company are really in short supply, therefore, the shelved gas lamp project has several Chinese businessmen interested in participating.

The Nanjing-Shanghai-Nagasaki-Edo passenger ferry was opened, operated by Shengxing Shipping, a joint venture between the British and the Chinese, and the passenger ferry used to be once a week, but with the increasing number of Chinese going to Yuben to pan for gold, the number of flights has now increased to once every three days.

It is almost the same model as in Western countries, where real Chinese traders hire merchant ships to go to Yuben, while most of the Chinese who take passenger ships to Yuben are adventurous scoundrels, shabby or petty capitalists who go to overseas colonies with self-made dreams. When it comes to Yuben, there are many people who rely on the identity of Chinese to cheat and eat and drink, and most of them are not bad, after all, many solid merchants in Yuben, if they want to do business in Nagasaki, they have to find some Chinese as backers, and they need Chinese to match and trade with the south; Second, it was more convenient to deal with the Nagasaki colonial government, and the officials of the Nagasaki Management Committee were usually more polite and cautious when dealing with the Chinese.

Although it has only been a year, Nagasaki has undergone significant changes, and even if the population is not counted, the prosperity of the region alone is faintly higher than that of Edo, and the population has further surged, and in just over half a year, the population has more than doubled, and the population of Nagasaki has now exceeded 100,000. This is also due to the fact that Nagasaki's management system is closer to modern times, all kinds of taxes are transparent, assets are also secured, and compared with Edo's closed and xenophobic, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries and even the merchants of Nagasaki are more willing to invest, buy land, do trade, and so on.

On the surface, Nagasaki is thriving, and it seems that foreign investors are building the city for themselves, but in fact, where is it so simple?

The shogunate and the imperial family also discovered this and had to begin to reduce the gold content of the coins, and in Japan, with the outflow of gold and the dumping of foreign industrial products (mainly Chinese products), the economy was on the verge of collapse, inflation and prices rose rapidly, and the samurai with rice in their hands found that there were fewer and fewer things that could be exchanged in the market.

Ye Zhao came to Yuben in such a background.

The consul of the Southern Dynasty in Nagasaki was called Ma Bowen, born in the Tongwen Museum, in his forties, Si Swenwen, wearing a Tang costume (Mao suit), wearing gold wire glasses, it is said to be a smiling tiger, in his own opinion, extremely insidious, planning a number of bloody suppression of the Nagasaki rebellion organization's riots, now in Nagasaki, there is basically no new writing group, crow group, white tiger team and other resistance organizations to survive the soil, he is indispensable.

Nagasaki also specially demarcated a military port area, and the 1,000 permanent troops of the Southern Dynasty were in charge of the Nanjing garrison troops, which were rotated every six months.

In addition, the Southern Korean armed patrol force was responsible for the security of the urban area of Nagasaki, a rifle team of 200 people, plus a security team composed of hundreds of people.

Nagasaki's security team, called the Public Security Bureau, is headed by Chinese, and several deputy general offices are all people.

Speaking of which, the General Office of the Nagasaki Public Security Bureau is still Ye Zhao's old acquaintance, a former colleague of the Guangzhou Patrol Bureau, Heizi, and now his official name is Li Jingzhong.

The Chinese officials in Nagasaki, only Ma Bowen knew that the regent had come to Yuben, but Ye Zhao did not live in the consulate, but lived in the villa courtyard area near the sea, where almost all Chinese, British, Dutch and other foreigners and compradors lived in Nagasaki, and it was a gathering place for the upper class society in Nagasaki.

After wandering around Nagasaki for two days, Concubine Jin and her brother immediately returned to China on a Chinese merchant ship arranged by Ma Bowen.

That night, Ma Bowen came to visit the regent.

The courtyard covers an extremely wide area, the water in the courtyard is murmuring, the weeping willow pine, the red leaf wood is quite the style of the house, and there is an ancient cherry blossom tree, although the flowering season has passed early, but the green shade is like a crown, and the scenery is quite beautiful.

When Ma Bowen came, Ye Zhao was sitting in front of the quaint and quiet bedroom wooden house, admiring the wonder of the bamboo tube dripping water in the rockery pool in the courtyard.

The sliding doors open to reveal the beautiful wooden table and the finely handmade rush tatami mats in the bedroom.

The courtyard is extremely deep, covering an area of one mile, and the cobblestone road winds through it, in Ye Zhao's opinion, it is similar to the mansions of gangsters such as the Yamaguchi Group that he saw in later films.

"Minister, Ma Bowen, knock on the prince!" Ma Bowen knelt down on the cobblestone road and kowtowed.

"Get up." Ye Zhao bowed slightly, picked up the teacup and tasted tea, and said: "The regulations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aren't they quite clear?" Kowtowing at every turn, it's not like your style. ”

Bowing at every turn is another shackle that imprisons the mind, and the south has gradually abolished the bad habit of bowing down to civilian officials and generals in the army, in fact, according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, there are not so many etiquettes that need to bow down, but some officials like to bow down to the top of the body, and some officials like to use kneeling to please their bosses, which makes the officialdom culture of the official position more and more intense.

The Southern Dynasty stipulates that royal etiquette, except for formal places, officials at all levels are not allowed to kneel on both knees, and can be replaced by one-knee salutes.

"Yes, yes, I forgot for a moment." Ma Bowen replied respectfully, as for what the regent said about "his style", he knew very well in his heart that two years ago, he was almost dismissed because he refused to bow down to Yuan Jiasan, if it weren't for Li Xiaocun and Zou Kaizhi to protect him, I am afraid that he would have been pushed to the end a long time ago.

Ye Zhao put down the teacup and said, "I heard that the northeast is turbulent, do you have a countermeasure?" ”

Ma Bowen bowed down and said: "Your Majesty is going to negotiate with the Emperor and the Shogunate, and use our southern people to enter the center of the Sayren as advisers to help them renovate the economy and stabilize the situation. ”

Oh? Ye Zhao took a deep look at him, he was really a talent, and many officials in the southern country were gloating, but they didn't know that the turmoil was too much, but in fact, it was not good for China.

"Okay, you can do it." Ye Zhao nodded.

Ma Bowen knew what the word "good" in the regent's mouth meant, but he had a calm expression on his face, bowed down and said, "Yes, Your Majesty knows!" ”

Ye Zhao said again: "I'll go to Edo in five days." Indeed, there are still many things to think about, and it is even more important to truly understand the current state of mind of the Yue people, so that we can prescribe the right medicine, appease the emotions of the majority of the people, and disintegrate the ideological foundation of the resistance to the armed forces, or at least not make them stronger and stronger.

"Yes, Your Majesty will write a letter to Edo a day in advance."

Ye Zhao nodded and waved his hand.

Ma Bowen bowed, hesitated, and said: "Lord, Your Majesty recommends a maid to serve the Lord, there is no maid by the Lord's side, and life is quite inconvenient, not to mention that she is familiar with the written language of our dynasty, and can be a guide to guide the prince to visit Nagasaki." ”

Ye Zhao was slightly stunned, indeed, Concubine Jin pretended to be a maid because she forgot about this stubble, and she didn't have a careful maid around to take care of her, so she was a little unaccustomed to it, and asked, "Does she understand my words?" ”

Ma Bowen said: "Yes, the person selected by his subordinates half a year ago used a lot of effort, originally for the prince's visit to the Japanese, I thought that the prince could use it, and if he didn't need it, he would spend some money to send her home." This person is very good, his family is poor, he has been cultivated by geisha since he was a child, and the owner of the first dance hall asked for five hundred silver dollars, but before he could agree with anyone, he was bought by his subordinates, and let people teach her the writing and language of the Southern Dynasty, and now there is a small success. The subordinates also investigated her family background, a poor person in the countryside, and her background was extremely simple, and she would never have anything to do with the rebels. ”

Ye Zhao frowned slightly: "You bought it for money?" ”

Ma Bowen hurriedly said: "In fact, it is the silver spent by Boss Wu, he heard that he is looking for a maid for the prince and generously donating." ”

Ye Zhao smiled bitterly in his heart, it was Wu Chongyao again.

Ma Bowen said again: "Your Majesty has never met her, and the matter of finding a maid for the prince is done by the concubine of the Minister, she said that this woman is smart, and the prince likes it mostly." This woman didn't know the identity of her concubine, let alone the identity of the prince, she just thought that I bought her from a big family. ”

From beginning to end, Ma Bowen did not hide it at all, and began to prepare more than half a year ago, which can be described as well-intentioned. And can you guess that the regent will definitely come to Yuben for a walk, how powerful is his mind?

Ma Bowen continued: "Her real name is Manako Watanabe, and her concubine changed her name to Iori Reedue, which is the prince's favorite name. ”

Ye Zhao doesn't remember what he said on what occasion, maybe it was chatting with people at the ball? It's not surprising that my words and deeds don't know how many people are grinding objects.

"Just send it, you can be careful." Ye Zhao glanced at him deeply, he could also behave neither humbly nor arrogantly in front of him, obviously suspected of flattery, but he made people feel a lot, he was a powerful character, and he had a bright future.

"Yes!" Ma Bowen bowed and retired.

"Ning Pao" is a newspaper, and although there is a delay in the book, it is delivered by passenger ship, and three copies can be bought every three days. Ye Zhao sat cross-legged on the tatami mats, and when he was reading "Ning Bao", he heard the sound of clogs on the cobblestone road outside the house, softly, as if beating the music.

Immediately, the slight "click" of the wooden floor along the outer side of the door is the sound of the friction between the socks and the tatami mats, and the sound that can only be made by the elegant lady's gait unique to this woman.

"Sir, may I come in?" The crisp and delicate sound is a bit exotic, and it is very beautiful.

Ye Zhao hummed, and then the door was opened, and the beauty poured in like a tide, and the oil lamps were dimmed, and at that moment, Ye Zhao actually felt amazing.

Bright pink and white embellished with red flowers of the kimono, gorgeous dazzling, but also appear that she is slender, slender and quiet, that is like a small backpack with Yang and pill quilting belt is made of red, bright red wide brocade belt, binding her soft waist, dignified sense of surname is incomparable, brocade knotting method is said to have more than 300 kinds, her waist is wrapped by Chinese craftsmen blue and red two colors of cylindrical brocade belt, glamorous and compelling.

Snow-white cloth socks, called foot bags, it is said that from China, also called "girl socks", because the local climate is humid and rainy, the southerners wear more clogs, girl socks are specially used to match the herringbone with clogs socks, the so-called "clogs are like frost, not crow's head socks", talking about the style of the Yue woman.

She bowed her head slightly, her beautiful bun was like a flower, she was coiled with colorful hairpins, and her snow-white neck was even more attractive.

"Your name is Iori Reeduke?" Ye Zhao asked.

"Yes, sir." She replied softly.

Ye Zhao pointed to the other side of the wooden table and continued to read the newspaper by himself.

Weiyue Yiori knelt down and sat down, Ye Zhao caught a glimpse of the corner of his eye, with a pink face and eyebrows, red lips and bright teeth, a gorgeous posture, bright and dazzling, coupled with the extremely ladylike temperament, she was a very outstanding woman.

After a while, she suddenly got up lightly, took a small step, and pulled the door out.

Ye Zhao was stunned, would he act on his own? But it is also fresh, compared to the maids of the palace who kowtow to ask for instructions on everything, this reveals a fairy flexibility.

After a while, the mystery was revealed, but she came back with a plate of purple sand tea sets, knelt down across the table again, quietly brushed tea powder, and made tea.

"Sir, am I disturbing you?" Iori asked in a whisper.

Ye Zhao waved his hand, there was a living person in the house, but it was actually much more comfortable, what he was not afraid of was being disturbed, think about it, even if the birds and cicadas seemed to be gradually extinct around him, except for Rong'er and the matchmaker, few people dared to take the initiative to talk to him, let alone the robot-like little maid in the house.

Wei Yue Iori gently handed the teacup to Ye Zhao, and then stopped talking, just watched Ye Zhao sip the tea in the cup, and silently helped him pour it.

Then, he quietly watched Ye Zhao flip through the newspaper, occasionally picking up small scissors to cut off the burnt wick of the oil lamp.

A faint fragrance spreads through the room.

"Do you think Nagasaki has changed for the better or for the worse?" Ye Zhao suddenly raised his head and asked.

Ye Zhao spoke too fast, obviously Wei Yue Iori didn't understand, and said, "Sir, what did you say?" ”

Ye Zhao smiled dumbly, thinking about it, it was quite boring to ask her this, took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and said, "It's late, go to sleep, I'll ask someone to arrange a place for you." "I knew it this time, and I said it slowly almost word for word.

Wei Yue Yiori said: "Sir, I know where the futon is, I'll help Mr. spread the quilt first." ”

Ye Zhao nodded, went to take a bath, opened the east door to the bathroom, took a hot shower, changed into a silk nightgown, and when he came out, he saw that this kimono beauty had already taken out the futon from the wardrobe and spread it on the tatami mat for herself.

After laying out the futon, the beauty got up lightly and said, "Sir, I'll take a bath." ”

Ye Zhao's head.

Then, I saw that she began to untie the gorgeous flower buckle of the brocade belt on her back, her posture was extremely elegant, and the wide brocade belt that had been wrapped several times was released in circles, Ye Zhao hurriedly turned around, sat down cross-legged, and flipped through the newspaper.

The sound of rustling, footsteps, the door gently shut, the sound of water.

When Ye Zhao turned around, he saw that the gorgeous kimono and the pendants of various ornaments that could not be called were neatly placed in the corner of the house, and the fragrance was even stronger.

Ye Zhao flipped through the newspaper, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, a foreign country, a gentle and elegant kimono beauty, it was a fatal temptation, and then he shook his head, he was really going to become an absurd and shameless faint king.

When the beauty came out of the bathroom, she only wore a snow-white long undergarment, which was a kind of kaftan similar to a simple kimono, with a snow-white thin belt tied around her waist, a little less glamorous, and a little more ladylike beauty.

Weiyue Yiori walked lightly, sat behind Ye Zhao gently, stretched out his hands to Ye Zhao's chest, helped Ye Zhao untie the nightgown tie, and suddenly saw the snow-white little hands on his chest, and the faint fragrance behind him, Ye Zhao's heart suddenly sudden, waved his hand, and said: "I don't need you to serve, I want to think about it, where do you live." ”

Wei Yue Iori listened to Ye Zhao's words, got up, went to the wardrobe and took out a thin velvet quilt and a thin blanket soft pillow, spread the thin blanket behind Ye Zhao, and lay down on her side with her delicate body, covering the thin quilt.

Ye Zhao rubbed his nose and thought about it, the big man who lived in the courtyard really didn't have a good place to live to arrange for her, so he didn't speak and lay down.

Iori sat up and asked, "Sir, do you prefer to sleep with the lights on or turn off the lights?" ”

Ye Zhao said: "Go out." ”

Iori got up immediately, took the oil lamp and went outside, listened to the sound, turned off the oil lamp with a copper cap, and went to wash her hands again, only then did she come back and lie down again.

The two of them were only separated by one position, which was the gap where Ye Zhao had just sitting, and the moonlight shone in through the white paper window and paper door, and after quickly adapting to the light, the room was completely visible.

Ye Zhao turned his head sideways, and saw that the beauty was looking at him quietly, her dark eyes were shining, and she was very bright.

Ye Zhao couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, to say that the little maids had also slept in their own rooms, but they were not so close; Second, the little maids seem to be thoughtless robots, but the feeling is completely different today, this reed moon Iori knew at first sight that she was a very smart woman, and her surname was beautiful, sleeping in the same room with her, listening to her slight breathing, the fragrance on her body surrounded her nose, and the indescribable Qini, and her heart was overflowing.

With a dry cough, Ye Zhao asked, "How old are you?" ”

"Seventeen." The orchid breath that the beauty gently spit out seemed to spray on Ye Zhao's face, and Ye Zhao's heart fluttered.

Seventeen? That's sixteen.

Ye Zhao asked again: "Don't you have a sweetheart?" ”

The beauty's face darkened, this reaction was beyond Ye Zhao's expectations, I thought it must not be, didn't she enter the geisha hall since she was a child?

"Do you have a sweetheart?" Ye Zhao looked at her strangely.

"Don't worry, sir, my hand has never been touched by a man." Beauty said softly.

Ye Zhao said: "What did he do?" ”

"The little power in the kitchen of the Chunjiang Pavilion is stupid, and sometimes he will help us dance tricksters deliver tea." Beauty's eyes are a little sad, Haruekan is the best geisha theater in Nagasaki, and it is also where she was born.

Ye Zhao didn't want to say such slang as Xiao Li Ben, so she smiled and said, "Okay, let's go to Chunjiang Pavilion tomorrow." ”

The beauty was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir, I really didn't lie, the tips of my fingers have never been touched by a man, you, don't you go and embarrass him, okay?" "An extremely elegant woman, for the first time, her tone was a little anxious.

Ye Zhao smiled: "Then how did you become your sweetheart?" Ah, I see, it's eye contact, you know he likes you, and he knows you like him. ”

Beauty nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes, that's it." ”

Ye Zhao smiled: "Then I have to go and see it, don't worry, I'm not embarrassed for him." When I came to this book, I had to see and see this art museum. ”

Beauty fell silent and nodded slightly.

(To be continued)